


they make the latitudes and longitudes

by PhoenixFalls



Category: The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Fuck a Bunch of Canon, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, Gwen Stacy Lives!, I reject your reality and substitute my own, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-12
Updated: 2014-05-12
Packaged: 2018-01-23 17:27:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1573814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixFalls/pseuds/PhoenixFalls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gwen and Peter Skype every single night while he's wrapping up his life in New York.</p>
            </blockquote>





	they make the latitudes and longitudes

**Author's Note:**

> General spoilers ahoy, probably, for _The Amazing Spider-Man 2_ , even though I'm pretending the entire second half of the movie didn't happen.

"Is that a scorch mark?"

"What?” Peter hurriedly pulled off his sweater, still a little out of breath from rushing home for their date. “No, of course not, it's just a shadow."

"That's a scorch mark! What happened?"

"It was nothing, really, nothing to worry about at all."

Gwen’s narrowed her eyes. "Peter! You promised you'd stop lying to try and protect me!”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry, it’s a habit.”

“Well stop it. It’s a bad habit, and you should stop it right now. And tell me what happened.” She pouted, and Peter caved.

“I went to visit Max today. His control slipped a little, but I swear, he didn’t hurt anyone, and he even said he’d replace my shirt. He’s really doing much better now!

“Good.” She punctuated that with a decisive nod. Then she brushed their spat away with a hair flip. “You’re going to have to go back and visit him tomorrow though. My mom says even with Harry’s statement and the documents he provided she needs more evidence before she can get the patents reverted to his name. You said he has some notebooks of his earlier designs?”

“Yeah, I think so. . .”

* * *

“I made a contact for you today.”

“Yeah?” Peter knew he didn’t sound excited, but Aunt May had fallen asleep over her homework again last night and Mr. Jameson had only paid him for three photographs and shipping things to London was _expensive._

“Yeah. She works at one of the local galleries, and I showed her some of your work. They like to have an in-house photographer do the work for their brochures, and she thinks your eye for movement would capture their sculptures beautifully. It wouldn't be full-time, but it’s a foot in the door of a better industry than tabloid journalism, you know?”

Peter ran his hands through his hair, still distracted. “That sounds great, really, definitely something I’ll look into.”

Gwen stared at him hard. “Peter. Tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s just – I’m worried, all right? Your mom, she has your brothers, and your aunts, and the life insurance settlement, and her job. But Aunt May’s gonna be all alone here, and I’ll be an ocean away, and everything costs so much over there, and—“

“Peter!” Gwen had leaned forward, close enough to the camera that her face filled the entire screen. “There’s an easy solution to this.”

“There is?”

“Of course. Just ask her to move here with you!”

* * *

“You’re really pale.”

Peter slumped back on his bed and let his eyes slip closed. “Harry's researchers needed more blood today. Which would have been fine, if I hadn’t been interrupted by a bank robbery or a mugging every time I tried to eat something.”

“I thought you said you’d been keeping energy bars on your utility belt?”

“I didn’t have time to go to the store!”

“You have to make the time – you can’t save people if you collapse in some alley in a faint, Peter.”

He groaned, then opened his eyes again to give her a sheepish smile. “I know, Aunt May already yelled at me for it. She’s stuffed a couple cookies in my mouth as soon as I walked in the door, and she’s heating up some casserole right now.”

“So what I hear you saying is no cybersex tonight?” Gwen asked with a waggle of her eyebrows.

“Oh my god, Gwen! No! I am not doing that with Aunt May in the house! I’m not doing that with Aunt May anywhere in the borough!”

Gwen sighed dramatically. “Oh, very well. A girl has to try.” She was quiet a moment, and her face settled into a more serious expression. “You know, Harry might not push so hard if he knew _you_ were the man under the Spider-Man mask.” 

“You know I can’t do that. Every person I tell is put at risk, and I won’t be able to protect him from England.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “How many times do I need to convince you that you have to let other people make their own decisions? We’ve been over this Peter – right now, he’s best friends with a superhero completely unwittingly; if anyone tries to get to you through him he won’t have any defense, because he doesn’t know there’s anything to defend against. If you tell him, he can decide for himself whether hanging out with you is worth the risk, and then he can take whatever precautions he needs to.”

Peter didn’t say anything for a long time. Gwen let him stew. When she judged the time was right, she spoke again. “Besides, he’s a multi-billionaire. He can afford to hire some extra bodyguards.”

Peter sighed, but his expression lightened. “All right. You win, you’re right. I don’t know how you're always so smart. I’ll tell him.”

* * *

“I didn’t mean to do it, I swear, it just kind of happened, and I’d never do anything to hurt you, and it’ll never happen again, and—“

“Peter! Slow down! What are you talking about?”

Peter’s eyes were wild, and his hair was even wilder, and he held eye contact with Gwen for a second then buried his head in his hands.

His voice was low and ashamed. “Harry kissed me today.”

Gwen let that sit between them for a moment, watching the defeated line of Peter’s shoulders. Finally she realized that he wasn’t going to say anything more.

“Okay? What’s the problem?”

That got Peter to look back up. The outrage wasn’t quite what she was going for, but she could work with it. “What’s the problem? The problem is I’m with you, I’m in love with you, I’m moving to a different country for you, and my best friend just stuck his tongue down my throat!”

“You’re not freaking out because he’s a guy, right? Because I figured out you were bisexual ages ago.”

“Oh my god, Gwen! No! I’m freaking out because I cheated on you!”

“I’m pretty sure you didn’t. I mean, I wasn’t there, but you said he kissed you, which means you didn’t really do anything, and even if you had, you can only cheat on me if we’ve agreed to be monogamous. Which we haven’t.”

“We. . . haven’t?”

“Nope.”

“Are you seeing someone else?”

“Of course not, I’m way too busy for any more relationships. But that doesn’t mean you can’t.”

“So you’re. . . telling me I should date Harry?”

“I’m saying you _can_ date Harry, if you like him that way and his kissing made you hot. Come on, Peter, it’s really not that complicated.”

Peter just boggled.

“It was hot, wasn’t it?”

Peter buried his face in his hands again. “Yeah, yeah it was.”

* * *

“Shift the computer back a little farther. . . no, that’s too far. . . now it’s too far to the left – no, my left!”

Frustrated, Peter shot some webbing to the corners and suspended the computer over the bed. “There, how’s that?”

“Perfect. Now get undressed.”

“You know,” Harry drawled as he leaned forward to help Peter pull of his t-shirt, “I have a private jet.”

Gwen made a face. “All right, Richie Rich, your objection to cybering is noted. Now take off your pants and show me what you’re working with.”

Peter was blushing deeply, but he stopped pulling at his own clothes and reached over to try and help Harry with his. Their fingers tangled on the buttons of his fly and they got distracted, eyes locked and breath coming a little faster.

Gwen grinned at the picture they made, shy and intense. But they weren’t moving and her vibrator was charged and ready, so after a minute she snapped her fingers to get their attention again. “Come on, chop chop, there’s nowhere near enough skin on display yet. . .”

**Author's Note:**

> In case it wasn't clear in the fic: In this 'verse, Peter very reasonably agreed to provide blood for Harry's researchers to examine in their pursuit of a cure, which is actually all Harry was asking for. In the process of taking control of his father's research into their disease, Harry discovered all of the shady things Donald Menken was doing, booted him from the company, and was able to get Max some better help. Gwen and Peter still had their conversation where he offered to move to London, absolutely nothing interrupted their make-out on top of the bridge, and Peter got Gwen to her plane on time.
> 
> The title is from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: “Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.” 
> 
> The "Alternate Universe - Fuck a Bunch of Canon" tag is shamelessly stolen from [this XMFC fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/348677); the "I reject your reality and substitute my own" tag is modified from [this Teen Wolf fic ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/826746).


End file.
